The night was going to be one of the dark nearly moonless things, without much of any glow through the misting rain to see by. The rain wasn’t a problem, and in fact might be better to have since it covered so much in the way of sound and visibility on the ground. But it was a two-edged sword in that it limited those same things when it came to detecting the enemy. Our element was at a crossroads, as I tried to figure out what to do based on what Jacko had reported before the Skyraiders made their last run and bugged out. Supposedly the NVA had proceeded down the trail next to the cliff wall and then, for some unknown reason, possibly reports about Kilo being set further down in an ambush, had turned and headed back up the valley.
“They’re not headed for the confluence,” I said to the Gunny, turning down another hit on his C-ration cigarette.
“Confluence?” he asked, handing the radio handset back to Fusner following his abrupt ending comment to Captain Carter.
“Where the river runs along the wall,” I replied. “Where our stuff is.”
“They could see them from up there,” the Gunny replied, his head rotating upward. “They’d have told us.”
It was getting so dark I could barely see him crouched down only a few yards away.
“It doesn’t make sense,” I went on. “There’s nothing for them out in the open and our stuff is in a small secured area that won’t hold many more men than we already have. Plus, come daybreak, they would be fully exposed to fire from where the rest of the company is set up across the river.”
I motioned for what was left of the Gunny’s cigarette but didn’t smoke the remains. Instead, I touched the hot coal end to the backs of a few leeches that had found a home on the back of my hand. I’d left it leaning down on the mud for only a few moments. The last leech fell away at about the same time as the cigarette went out from contact with the moisture. I shivered, as I imagined the darkly invisible creatures squirming around nearby, alive and happy about having had a meal of my blood.
“So?” the Gunny asked.
“They’re going into the jungle between us and the wall. They know how to deal with it, or there are trails and tunnels we don’t know about. It’s the perfect solution. In the morning they can attack outward from there in any direction and our supporting fire, either from the Ontos or air, can’t open up without fear of hitting us or Kilo because we’re too close.”
“I know where you’re going with this,” the Gunny said, letting out a sigh.
“We’ve got to move back to our stuff in the dark, Gunny. We need ammo, food, and more water. It’s all there. We’ve got to take the chance.”
“And we can’t very well tell the rest of our company over on the other side or we get hit from the jungle if they are in this dense thicket of shit,” the Gunny said. “That’s if they aren’t where you don’t think they’re going, and then we’re dead. This is getting way too complicated.”
“We can have the Ontos open up closer to the open area as we’re headed up,” I offered. “They’ll figure out we’re on the move and that’s why we need the covering fire but I think they’re afraid of the Ontos shit so they’ll keep their heads down.”
“Let me get this straight,” the Gunny replied. “Either the enemy is out there in front of us and we get killed when we run into them or our own company figures it’s them moving up the river at night, opens up, and kills us. I mean, if you’re wrong.”
“The enemy isn’t stupid and the only stupid things I’ve seen them pull have had to do with having the shitty equipment, no equipment or short supplies. My plan takes all that into account. They can hold their forces in protected comfort in the jungle waiting to attack, and then concentrate what they’ve got instead of risking it all out there in the open.”
“The Skyraiders can come back in the morning,” the Gunny offered. “If we stay where we are then they can cover our move to the area where we can cross the water. God, we’ve just got to get across that cursed river.”
“Maybe the Skyraiders will be there in the morning, and maybe not,” I said. “If the weather’s worse they won’t come in, and it doesn’t seem to be letting up.”
“Where’s the greater risk?” The Gunny replied, staring at me as if to convince me of something he didn’t really want to convince me of.
If we hunkered down for the night, in the rain and misery without our gear, or food, or fresh water, other than what could be licked from our bodies or sparingly collected in our helmets, then we would be much closer to being prey when dawn came than if we successfully made the move. Captain Carter’s decision to stay where he was had merit, but only for Kilo. He was also self-sufficient as a functioning unit hauling all of his own supplies. We’d strewn bodies up and down the part of the valley we were in and I hated the idea that our men, and Kilo’s, were laying out there and that we might be adding more before resupply could get to us or us to them. We were spread up and down the narrow region of lighter jungle foliage near the top of the twenty or thirty-meter wide flat mud surface that ran down to the flowing water. The enemy was deeper inside the jungle, or so I thought, but there was no telling how far deeper in.
“What about Jurgens and Sugar Daddy?” I asked, looking for any kind of support.
It wasn’t the kind of situation, and there hadn’t been many, where I was going to issue an order and expect that it would be followed. Where there was a danger of death I knew the Gunny’s very early advice fully applied. If the danger of risking lives was too great to the men, then the solution became one of changing the decision by changing the decision-maker. Or by ending his life, which in this case would be mine.
“They’ll do what I order them to do, Junior.”
I noticed that he hadn’t said that they’d do what I ordered, but that didn’t bother me any more than accepting the fact that I was Junior, and probably would be as long as I lasted in the country.
“Let’s call them in,” I said, but not in an ordering way.
The Gunny was too bright and experienced for him not to know that I was hoping to gain allies in my newest plan, but I knew he was fully resigned to the fact that we were all Marines in this mess together. Our success, what there was of it, had been expensive, but our losses were less than what we’d been experiencing back on Gò Nổi Island when the company had been mostly killing itself.
The Gunny nodded at Tank, who quietly rose up and disappeared along what existed of a trail through the edge of the jungle. I stared at the dark wet main mass of vegetation, rising up eighty or ninety feet into the air. It was too dark to see much, and I wasn’t going to have Zippo haul out the Starlight Scope to concentrate on trying to make out dark moving bodies in the dark moving intensity of the jungle. I realized that I was coming to accept and even like the rain. It now ran down in rivulets from my helmet and into the space between my dirty blouse and my neck. The good of the rain was that I’d figured out that the enemy seldom attacked in the rain. And they never came out of their holes when there was lightning. I didn’t know whether that was because of fear or superstition. It would be interesting to know that information one day if I lived, but for the time being, I had come to not mind the complete mess the rain made of everything, as long as it helped me to stay alive.
Jurgens and Sugar Daddy came crawling out of the darkness, the Gunny’s small coffee fixings producing only a minimum glow of light, as the explosive mixture burned tiny but hot. I was out of water so I didn’t respond to my own urge to go for my canteen holder. Right now all I wanted was Gunny’s agreement to the plan and nothing else.
But he wouldn’t have it that way. He mixed the coffee in, while the three of us waited patiently, with Tank and Fusner lying nearby, and Zippo not far back. Only Nguyen wasn’t present in any way that I could see. I knew if I scanned the jungle long enough I’d find his shiny eyes somewhere in there and that fact alone made me feel warm inside. The rain wasn’t cold water but for some reason, I felt cold all over. The Gunny handed me his canteen holder filled with coffee.
“A couple of creams but we’re out of sugar,” he said, with a genuine smile.
I took the handle. I had no choice. I didn’t like the dominance he was showing in front of the others or had earlier, but for some reason I always came back to the fact that the Gunny had saved my life more times than I could count and he’d had no reason at all to save me on that first night or the morning right after. The leech wounds on my left wrist bled several lines of darkness against the white of my skin but I ignored them. I took a sip of the hot coffee and more warmth suffused my insides. I looked over the lip of the cup at everyone present but made no effort to let them know I was paying attention. I didn’t belong in Vietnam or the A Shau Valley and I knew that. There was no training of any kind that was going to prepare me to make a decision to come here before I got here. I knew that. I also knew that everyone else present probably felt the same way I did but none of us would ever say it. Could ever say it. Even if we made it home, any of us, we wouldn’t say it.
“The Lieutenant wants to move tonight,” the Gunny said, quietly to the surrounding group.
I knew that whatever I said after that would be quickly transmitted to every Marine in the detail within seconds, although I didn’t know how that was done. The Gunny had addressed me as the lieutenant. He was going to let me take my best shot, and the admission told me that he’d likely go along if they went along. I didn’t know what I’d do it they didn’t.
I outlined the plan, about laying down Ontos fire with more than half the rounds the crew had left up and down the edge of the cliff on the opposite side of the jungle. I was depending on the rain, the 106 fire and the concern the NVA had to have that attacking us in the night would prove too costly to undertake. I knew that I was weak on that last point because, so far in my brief experience with the enemy, they hadn’t back off out of fear, ever. They came like Marines, smaller, less well equipped but hard and motivated. And most of them weren’t going home. They were home. And there were no thirteen-month tours. They stayed to die or to live, for their country, for their families, and for their fellow warriors, just like us down in the valley.
“What if they come out of that shithole anyway, from our flank?” Jurgens murmured, pointing at the deeper face of the jungle next to him.
“Speed,” I replied. “Like before. We run. Fast. This time it’s only a couple of thousand meters. The Ontos will be firing and the rain should cover the sound of our running on that dense mud.”
“What about in the morning?” Sugar Daddy asked. How do we get across the river if they’re in there at our back within AK distance?”
“The Skyraiders will be back, or we wait for them. The berm under the wall is fully defensible, as long as our platoons across the river have the open field of fire covered. The enemy will get slaughtered if they try moving through crossing fields of machine gun fire.”
“What’s this plan supposed to be called?” Zippo asked, from behind me, as if the name of the plan meant everything.
“Di di mau up the river, motherfucker,” Jurgens said.
“Sounds good to me,” the Gunny added. “Di di mau,” it is.
“When?” Sugar Daddy asked.
I handed the empty coffee container back to the Gunny, killing the last bit of home in a cup before doing so.
“Now,” I said. “Take five minutes and let everyone know, and then we’re back out on the mud running until we can’t run anymore. If anybody can’t make it then our rear element can drag them along.”
Fusner handed me the microphone. I called the company and got O’Brien, the Buck Sergeant running Second Platoon, and ran smack into a problem. He didn’t know the codes for the grid coordinates to fire against the wall. I couldn’t adjust fire for the Ontos because we were on the other side of the jungle. Adjusting by sound with the rounds impacting against the wall’s surface wasn’t going to get it. Which didn’t much matter because when I took my dying flashlight out it wasn’t dying anymore. It was dead. I couldn’t see the map in the little light we had.
Jurgens reached for the map I’d smoothed out on my thigh and pulled out a tiny flashlight of his own. He put the end in his mouth, and then took the microphone in his right hand.
“What are they?” He rasped out of his half-full mouth.
I realized Jurgens wasn’t reading the map or he’d have seen the numbers I’d already written in. Instead of trying to point out the grease pencil numbers I started to read them off slowly. I had no idea what Jurgens was up to.
Jurgens thumbed the mic and then read off the numbers, but he got them jumbled up. When he was done I didn’t know what to say.
“Our own code,” he said, pulling the flashlight out of his mouth and turning it off. “Backwards, except for the first and, the last number is reversed. When do you want them to start firing and how much time between rounds?”
I realized I didn’t know how long Jurgens had been in combat, but I knew it had been for longer than I had. He knew how to make things work that might not work without him.
“We can do this whole operation in ten minutes at an easy lope so have him give us ten rounds a minute apart. The last round should impact the wall not far from where we come out.
Jurgens sent the message and handed the mic back to Fusner with a white-toothed smile.
“I know that code too,” Fusner said, for no reason, I could figure.
“One other thing,” I said to everyone there. “If we pull this off and get back to our old position we’ll be loaded for whatever they throw at us and now they are going to be caught in that jungle between us and Kilo Company down the river. There’s going to be hell to pay in the morning if the weather holds or lightens up. Fusner calls the company again and tell then we’re starting out so they don’t think we’re the enemy. You have a special code for that?”
“Sure, Junior,” Jurgens laughed, taking the mic from Fusner’s hand again.
“We’re gonna di di mau up the motherfucking river in the mud, O’Brien,” he said before handing it back, and crawling back up the trail.
“Shit,” the Gunny said. “Now we have to move and move like hell. If they know we’re on the move, then we won’t have ten minutes before they open up.
Sugar Daddy, the Gunny, and Tank got up and ran toward their units. I knew the Gunny would take the point on this one and that worried me, but not as much as being tail-end Charlie since Jurgens had given our move away. Could he possibly have known that me and my scout team were all there was left to bring up the rear and that the rear element was the likely one that would get hit? I wondered. The man was a pure son-of-a-bitch and I wouldn’t put any kind of serpentine rabid thinking past him. No matter what we seemed to have to do for one another he wanted me out of there as much as I wanted him out of there and that was only going to happen one of two ways.
There was no need to signal when to start our move. The first Ontos round came in higher on the opposing wall than I’d called it but it was almost impossible to angle anything correctly when firing from the crew’s position almost parallel to the wall. The explosion was huge, igniting pieces of the wall and sending them spinning into the night. We only had a minute until the next one, I knew.
We all got up, got out onto the mud bank and ran. This time there would be no stopping. I was winded before the third round went off but there was no stopping. By the fifth round, I thought I might have to slow but Nguyen was on my right and Zippo on my left. There was no way they were going to let me rest I realized when I looked into their shiny eyes. They were afraid I wouldn’t make it. I got my second wind and ran on. I also knew that the mud was dragging the energy out of everyone. If someone was hit what could be done? Any attempt to stop, provide first aid and then move on would be totally hampered by our sorry state. I wished for the energy and conditioning I’d had in training. I ran on.
We made it to the clearing as the tenth round came screaming in, missing the wall entirely and blowing up not a hundred meters from where we were. The final motivation for finishing the run rushed through me. The river was curving before me, shining in the slight reflections coming off the water. I could not see the body bags we’d left there before heading down, although part of my mind looked for them.
I collapsed over the berm, my feet hanging over the lip, with Fusner pushing them in behind me. We were all in and down. I careened around, my lungs gasping for air, my helmet missing somewhere in the mulch between the berm and the wall. Two glints of light told me that I’d somehow returned to my own stuff. My pack. My binoculars. I grabbed them up and peered out toward the river. And then the enemy opened up. The AK fire grew in volume until I had to duck back down and hide. I did my full frontal mud burying thing, pressing as deep into the wet bracken as I could get. The soft wall behind us thankfully ate the bullets that impacted there, with sucking sounds when they could be heard over the awful loud firing. The enemy had to have been moving right with us in the heavy jungle, hampered more by its heavy growth than by our problems with the mud. They’d come out second in the race, no thanks to Jurgens, and they were mad as hell or they wouldn’t have been wasting ammunition. My Marines did not return fire and that made me feel good. Firing in the night was fine to establish a base of fire or to cause the enemy to think you were up to something you weren’t, but it was mostly useless in trying to hit anyone unless they were right on top of you. A few bursts seemed to come from forward of the jungle area and that gave me a start. If they attacked right now, across the open area, we weren’t ready.
“Gunny,” I yelled, to no avail.
But the Gunny wasn’t needed. I’d forgotten about the crossfire of having the rest of the company on the other side of the river. The distance was only about two hundred meters, maybe three to the wall in the distance. That was nothing for an M-60. Crisscrossing machine gun fire swelled up with the area looking like some bizarre field covered with lines of fast-moving fireflies heading off in all different directions. Our Marines fired for only a minute or less. Hundreds of 7.62-millimeter rounds. Somehow it had all worked. There was no more fire from the jungle at all. We were safely tucked in. I wondered if the NVA commander had any idea of what was coming for him and his men in the morning.
I smiled a cold smile for Captain Howard “Howling Mad” Carter, as well. I’d deliberately failed to inform him of our plan and I would spend the rest of the night wondering if I should tell him what had to be headed for him in the morning. My ‘saving’ Kilo company was taking one hell of a toll on that company, and I wasn’t sure what to do about it. I’d call him before dawn. I knew I would.
About the cornea ~~ brother in law went through what you are going through now. All came out well for him, praying the same for you. I knew something had to be up due to the amount of time between chapters.
I did not watch Burns on PBS. From the comments here it was as expected. Every day there are fewer of us. A little truth passes with each one of us and most are not talking. Thank you James for getting it out.
My teenage grandsons have asked me questions for sometime and answers were avoided until a few months ago. It started when they noticed the disabled veteran license plate. I took them to Fort Bragg, while there and on the way home I answered most of their questions. Visiting the museums and seeing the names on the monuments brought more questions. I think/hope they understand why I didn’t answer their questions sooner. They asked to visit Paris Island or Lejeune next summer, so maybe they did.
I told them there will be 3 books out before their visit next summer. I plan on getting each a set and with luck have the author sign them for them. I’ll buy hard cover editions if you ever have any printed. When/if they consider enlisting to read the books again and if still around will support their decision.
Anxiously awaiting your good health and the next chapter.
I don’t know what to say except a giant thank you! And this kind of thing keeps me going through thick and thin…
Semper fi to you and your grandsons.
Jim
I’ve had poor vision all my life, then I had lasik, I would hate to go back where I was, very near sighted. The tech optically is amazing, wishing you good luck. I was in the fall of Saigon portion of Ken Burns epic, a film clip I’d heard about but had never seen. Reading about the Capt’s helmet brought back some bad memories, I landed on some blood, bone, and brains, taking cover in a ditch from NVA artillery fire.
Thanks John, I am working around the vision thing as you know I must.
We’ll see what’s just up the road. Much appreciate the comment and care in it…
Semper fi,
Jim
Fantastic. I always felt that you may not like someone personally, but if he was inVN you had to respect him. I was lucky in that I never had to leave the States. I do not believe I could have made it fighting there. HOORAY 😁 for anyone that was there.
Thanks Richard, you’ve got it. I think anyone fighting there at the time was in deep crap.
Thanks for coming in on that issue.
Semper fi,
Jim
Of course rest the eyes, blind bards have trouble with the details.
You sure are writing checks that have used all the company good luck! Running around in the A Shaw at night with less than two platoons and no supplies, hoping it’s all still at the destination!!!!! Not to mention a very shaky command and control.
Command an senior nco leadership in the NVA had been around since Dien Bien Pheu, they just didn’t made rookie mistakes, especially in the A. Shaw. They would depart the field like smoke before getting caught in a crossfire.
Just when we had them, they were gone. Even behind us and ambushing us.
Remember when everything is going your way your walking into an ambush!!!!
Thanks for the leeches, can’t do a sweep fast enough!!!
Butch
Thanks for the care. The eye battle continues with the second surgery failing like the first. And now it’s on to a full corneal
transplant that I’d hoped to avoid. Ah well…
Semper fi,
Jim
Sorry to hear the eye thing needed more attention. Sincerely hoping that works out well for you. Reading your most recent chapter as well as the many comments from other followers stirs a lot of memories and emotions. Notwithstanding the homecomings that we received (if one can call them that), you should have nothing to be ashamed of or to regret. I am amazed at your tactical calls, and very grateful that you are sharing them. Thank you for your service, sir, and I would have been honored to serve under you.
Thanks Marshall. I have been watching Ken Burns hoping to glean something out of that lengthy rendition of the war but most
of it is simply the history clips. There were almost no combat photographers that went out into the real shit unless it was
to drop and get the hell out before there was incoming.
Semper fi,
Jim
Just caught up on the comments. I,too, had also missed the eye surgery but am
wishing you a good recovery. I have also been a nightly watcher of the PBS special, and when they were showing Con Thein I told my wife that in one shot she was looking at North Vietnam, and in the next shot that I had stood right where the photographer had stood, and that was a bunker I ran to when mortars came in. However, in all honesty, I was there in ’68 and this was shown in ’67. On the comments of bombing the resupply routes, “The Ho Chi Mien Trail”, in was reported on PBS that 230,000 North Vietnamese were had the job of constantly repairing the trail. That’s almost half of the American presence in Vietnam. The only way to stop it would have been to go into Cambodia and Laos, or even North Vietnam. Different can of worms.
Well, Joe, the real key would have been North Vietnam.
Since they would not make the decision to go there then
the avenues down into the South would never have been plugged
save for Goldwater’s idea to use nuclear.
Semper fi,
Jim
One has always believed that had we used the available weapons we had on Hanoi in the beginning of that war, it would have ended very quickly. My uncle tells me that he was on a U.S. ship near the Hanoi harbor when John Kennedy threatened to do just that. I don’t know why he did not follow through on that threat, it would have saved thousands of lives, if not millions in total on both sides.
It became very apparent to me before and during the Paris Peace Accords, that the U.S. never wanted a victory in the Vietnam War. It is apparent that our government considered our troops as dispensable government property. That mentality still seems to exist in D.C.
We had old marvelous weapons laying around, built for the Cold War. We needed to
see how they worked and then replace them with newer models. The Military Industrial
Complex is always overlooked at being the single largest war causing entity on the planet because
it is not seen as an entity at all. Eisenhower discussed it at the end, after of course, he helped
to construct it. Health and social programs are not the nation’s biggest expenses. It’s the building
of weapons systems and all the ancillary expenses that go along with maintianing and using them.
You are watching the current wars that were begun for the same reasons and continue with the new
developments of technology. The world lives in fear because of this and it’s all hype and mostly
nonsense.
Semper fi,
Jim
James, Wishing you well in the upcoming eye surgery. May the healing be effective and complete. Take all the time in the world to kick back and take it easy. Be Well
Well, the surgery didn’t go so well so I will have to get a new cornea in a couple of weeks.
Shit. But at least there’s still solutions out there. Fifty years ago there would have been nothing.
Semper fi, and thanks,
Jim
I just picked up on you having eye surgery. My prayer’s they get it corrected. Just watched this video, you may have already seen it, but wanted to share the link. Semper Fi
https://www.facebook.com/125627764722911/videos/133964403889247/?hc_ref=ARQJ3REVK2JHCd8fUZ2yWsCleTTVcuaXf0isC3-PLgneuSYGUes7pncjguCoo1SY-30
Thanks a lot SSGt. The whole coffee shop watched the link and loved it!!!
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
Once again I sit here wondering how you can write these experiences. Doing so must wake up the Demons. I do not believe I could endure the stress of sharing my personal experiences as you have done.
Thank you
Glenn.
Glenn. Those demons never tamp down so it does not cause me any additional angst to scuttle around with them.
We all go out into the world to seek adventure in one way or another. It is part of our genetic structure.
That we are not prepared to find what we may find ‘out there’ is almost a given, if what we find is traumatic.
We are also uniquely set up to deal with the results of that trauma,
hence my continued existence on the planet in some form of mental good, or at least decent, health.
Thank you for the consideration. In many cases going back through things step by step, page by page, has a cathartic effect.
I was a better guy than I thought in many cases but since results did not always turn out well
or the violence was high I felt responsible for, I haven’t necessarily seen it that way through the years.
For many years I wanted to apologize to the world for my conduct in Vietnam and, of course, had not world to apologize to.
I don’t see it that way anymore and going through it has helped me, unexpectedly, like some of the other combat guys on here,
to come to terms that circumstance and the unknown had a hell of a lot more to do with results than my causal acts or lack of acting.
I much appreciate the depth of your care and the comment…
Semper fi,
Jim
This is not a combat book. It is a combat bible. I have it on the little table next to my bed. At first I could not read through it entirely. I could only take bits and pieces, and then I had to come back for more. I did not want to go back to the A Shau, but found after awhile that the L.T. is correct, in that I never came out of it. This book brought me here, where I can wait for more chapters with patienct expectation, not wanting them to come too fast because I am afraid of the time when the last book is complete. This book, and the comments of the other men like the L.T., allows me to not be alone. At night I can pick it up and have some comfort, no matter where I open it to. I can read more new comments and know I’m okay because it wasn’t just me. I’m not a coward and I’m not mentally ill, it’s just that the ‘home’ I returned to isn’t what I thought…but it’s the place I want to be no matter what I learned in that other world. The comments make this book, which has almost no fiction in it that I can see, something living…and helps me to understand, night by night, that I want to live…The book is right here. The L.T. is right here. You guys and gals are right here too….and I thank you.
Well X.O. I keep rereading this comment. What author would not. You’ve reached me with this and I guess I’ve reached you with the story. The thing about
being afraid when the book is over, or the series. I have so many others that are coming out on Amazon, although none on Vietnam. On after. On that other service I joined afterwards. Thank you for this. Many of your words and sentences will not leave my thinking for some time to come. Unexpected and a bit
daunting too. I did’t mean to, comes to mind. I write on and part of the reason is men like you. I am right here and the guys and gals who will read this are right here with you… and the there in those nights. Thank you from the depths of a writer’s soul.
Semper fi,
Jim
It was great to get back into the story again. I could see this happening just like I was there. I am glad that I didn’t have to set out in the rain like we did fifty years ago.Thanks for your service! Semper Fi
Thanks Walter, I am working away to portray it the way it really was in the bush.
I hope I am laying it down the best I can. Comments like your own on here help me a lot…
Semper fi,
Jim
Another great segment Jim, heal quickly. Thanks you for taking the time to answer all the comments. I am spend more and more time reading all of them, they bring the story together even more!
Yes, you guys yourselves have made such a contribution to the story.
I never would have thought. Thanks for being a part of all this…
Semper fi,
Jim
Been there done that. Believe me or don’t. Frankly my dear I don’t give a damn. I must of missed you were having eye surgery. Glad it is coming along and you are back at it. I have been watching some of the PBS special and makes me more pissed off when I relive the lying ass politicians.You tell your story the way it was. Us old grunts that were there don’t have a problem with what you say. Another great episode. Can’t wait for the next one. Try to take care of that eye.
Thank you Gordon. Yes, we do get older and more frail. The eye didn’t do well this last time so back into surgery on Tuesday.
This being a tough Marine thing sometimes sucks. But I shall persevere…
Semper fi,
Jim
James: Take it easy this time. We can wait. Hell we’ve waited nigh on 50 years, a couple weeks won’t matter. Just post a hiatus. We’ll stick around.
Ain’t nobody shootin’ at us. Yet! And then it won’t be NVA.
OooooRah. Semper Fi.
I don’t want to lose it Thomas so I must pursue a steady continuance.
I know that does not sound rational but then am I really?
You?
Semper fi, and thank you…
Jim
Yeah, James your rational, me too (mostly). I understand fearing losing the scent. Posted under my name rather the pseudo Tomas’. Paranoia on public sites. And Gordon, we all been lied to so much that It don’t mean nuthin’. And that ain’t gonna change.
James just get that eye healed. Semper Fi!
Hey thanks Thomas. Yes, I am not afraid of losing the story, it’s burned in, but the details that have come to be along with the
repition of it are like some sort of mysterious miracle. Not on purpose. I just sit down and they come back.
Thanks for liking the work and commenting on that here…
Semper fi,
Jim
Good luck with our next surgery Jim, will be rooting for a quick recovery.
Thanks J. The surgery failed. Shit. Now it’s on to a new cornea in a few weeks.
But thanks for the prayers.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim, have you ever considered voice recording your story and have someone else typing it for you? Perhaps that would keep you from having so much eye strain. Since you are typing one chapter at a time, it is a good way to insure that the book gets finished should you have future problems. We are getting old my friends and taking life one day at a time now.
Not there yet J.
I am still hammering away, slowed not so much by the vision as by the depression that
comes along with the struggle to somehow get through on a long term basis.
And whom am I writing this to? You understand…
Semper fi,
Jim
Son of a bitch J. You asshole. You prayed and now I am up this morning seeing out of the bad eye. The second epithelium is taking. How is that possible? It’s not. The opthalmologist said it would take a miracle. But I can read this with my bad eye, as I type. Barely, but it’s all here. Do I have to take down my bible and actually read it? What is going on in my life and how can it take so many weird twists and turns at this point? I dont’ know what direction to turn or move in.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim, why are you so angry with God? Why do you feel that you must rebel against Him all of the time?
When the sun shines, it shines on everyone and when it rains, we all get wet. He does not pick a random person to torment while blessing all others. His blessings are for everyone who loves and acknowledges Him and He even blesses those who deny Him, up to a point. That point comes with the denial of our Creator. The denial of the Holy Spirit whom He will send to you to speak the truth of His existence.
My prayers have been for the healing of your eye, but also for the Holy Spirit to make himself known to you, so that you might know the truth about your spiritual Creator. As Jesus stated to the Apostles, “I will not leave you alone, for I will send you the Comforter (Holy Spirit), who will teach you all things.” You will need to open your bible to prove what I have just said and you will find it so written.
Keep in mind Jim, God is spirit, not flesh. However, He has given you a spirit to relate to Him with. When your flesh dies, your spirit lives on in God’s spiritual realm. Sooner or later you are going to have to meet Him and acknowledge Him. If you wish His presence now to meet your fleshly needs, then you must communicate with Him and ask Him for His help! It is a simple matter of acknowledging your Creator and then having faith in Him.
I speak from personal experience not from reading a book or listening to a preacher, although reading and hearing the Word, also helps one’s spirit throughout our fleshly life. I know for sure that God is real and that He does indeed relate to His creation in many different ways, but He first must get your attention to do so as it is a two way street.
Thus far, it would seem like you are headed down a one way street, going in the wrong direction. This I gleaned from your recent comment about so many things going the wrong way. You are free to continue in that direction, as your Creator has given you the free will to choose your desired direction. However, you are also free to turn around and start heading back in the right direction and toward the one who truly loves you and is trying to get your attention. It is up to you, to make the right choice.
Thank you J. I am thinking….
Semper fi,
Jim
Evening James, Tunnels, Yep, Charlie and the NVA were a gophers, I remember one time having a discussion with my CO, We were sitting up on LZ Snuffy waiting on lifts, out on the Cambodia boarder talking history, He was a ring knocker, Dam good one though, I queried Him about the problem of VC and tunnels and posseted a solution, Back in WWII they had some big assed bombs, 10,000 to 22,000 pounders, Tall Boy and Grand Slam, They were designed to go deep into the earth, explode creating a cavitation that would collapse underground factories, tunnels, military complexes, So why not use something like these against those tunnel complexes, The Major thought it would be a good idea, said He would forward it, But I never saw anything happen, Yes what would a set air strikes, with those type bombs have done to Charlie/NVA and his tunnel systems? But then the strategy of McNamara was “Attrition” Not “Annihilation” Bringing only as much force against the enemy as He was bringing against us, Yes, as it always happened, When we would be beating the North, They would go to the peace table, and we would cut operation until the North was ready to resume the fight again, But that is a what if that will never be answered…… Musings in the night…… Semper Fi/This We Defend…. As always Check 6 and drive on muther fucker…… Bob.
There was no inventory of huge conventional bombs in Vietnam.
It was thought to build some and a few were constructed
in order to clear landing zones in the jungle.
Those had limited success since the read jungle is one deep soggy mess
of twisted foliage and tough vegetation.
There is only so much shock a conventional bomb can transmit and then there is
the spy/counter spy thing. You probe deeper and they dig deeper.
You armor your vehicles against roadside bombs and they make bigger bombs.
And so on.
Thanks for the usual depth of your reply here. Fighting insurgencies using outside forces has never been much of a success.
That’s because you, in this case, we, fight inside an area where all the inhabitants are the enemy, one way or the other.
Thanks and
Semper fi,
Jim
Morning Jim, Yep, I saw the dazy cutters in action, Cut a 4 ship LZ in trip canopy jungle, The shock effect depending on terrain could be 4 clicks, and in the air we were instructed to keep a minimum 10 klick safety avoidance.
The difference between the dazy cutter and Tall Boy or Grand Slam, Was Tall Boy and Grand Slam were designed to go deep and collapse underground structure, Even standard arc lights would cause collapse of the shallow tunnels down to 20-30 feet, and being caught in a cave in was one of the NVA’s worst nightmares….. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened with an operation like that, It was very successful in WWII and those underground structures were built to a much higher standard, But as I said, late night musings of conversations long ago that never went anywhere, and Murphy’s Rule #31. If it’s stupid and it works, it ain’t stupid.
So anyway, Speedy recovery and have a great day, I am off to a weekend of shooting a 3 inch ordinance rifle, eating hardtack and drinking campfire boiled coffee…..
Semper Fi/This We Defend Bob.
Wow, and thanks. You’re knowledge on this issue is stunning. I knew about the daisy cutter but not the others and I’f forgotten the
name. But here it is. Guys like you. Lived it. I know you did. Thanks so much for adding to all of our knowledge on here time after time.
Semper fi, and keep it coming please!
Jim
I hope the skies are clear in the morning when you write your next episode so the air boys can help deliver a whooping to the external enemy.
And hope that your eyes are clear from surgery as well.
Thanks for your writing–and your service.
Yes, it just takes time Walt.
I have a follow up appointment in the morning to make sure all is okay,
which I presume it is….
Thanks for the care…
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks for another great chapter. I hope your eye improves. “In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king.”
I’m walking the walk with this eye thing. I am about six inches from the screen, which allows me to write. I can type, mostly, without
looking directly at the keys. What a bitch! But I am on it. The one-eyed man. All I have to do is blind the rest of the world!
Thanks for that,
Semper fi,
Jim
That’s the spirit! A sharp stick and you’re in business.
Thanks Kirby. Working away…
Semper fi,
Jim
“come not to mind the rain’…so very true…there was a point when you just gave up and became a part of it…that ‘sticky rain, first thing in the morning if you attempted to stay dry by wrapping up in the rubber poncho…and realized you just baked in your own sweat..more wet and miserable than if you had just laid out on the bare ground…and then coming to accept the warm rain that you just sat in…and let it ‘cleanse’ you..some times more than you realized as it ran in rivulets down your body and sometimes through your soul…and you really didn’ mind it at all… it was comforting at times to just sit there knowing that Charley didn’t like getting wet if he could help it….it was never a truce…but sometimes you felt like it was ok just to let the rain do it’s thing….. “Didn’t belong in the A Shau’….How could any instructor in your PLC even begin to try and describe or prepare you for the A Shau?…I don’t think it was possible…If “Officers” went in…they usually didn’t come out…the Recon teams moved in and out..but they were always run by non-coms and the brass never believed what they told them anyway…so how do you prepare for it…….Nobody “”belonged”” there…….Nobody lived there, nobody had ever lived there before..it was a natural beauty from the air…a tourist flying over would look down and shudder while inwardly thinking “hope we don’t crash into that shit’….the thought of willingly going down into that jungle would never cross a raional mans mind..never…and yet, here you are, playing Cowboys and Indians in it…. and that was what we called it…”Indian Territory”…. Jurgens…You have thrown the Gauntlet to the ground in Charley’s face…and Jurgens and the Gunny have watched you do it..and they like it…Gunny because he’s an old Pro and he will do what it takes to survive if possible…Jurgens doesn’t care..he figures he is going to die out there, but he’s starting to like how you think…and he wants to be there when Charley picks up the Gauntlet….cuz it’s going to be a donnebrooke of a fight….He is testing you…and so far, you have passed each level..doesn’t like you, doesn’t trust you, but he will stand with you……as long as you can keep up… Semper Fi Lt..
Once again, Larry, you reveal the mastery of writing you are so capable of, and in such an informal ‘offhand’ way. I love it. Upon occasion, you write better than I do and I both love and hate that. It was as you describe it. Like maybe slaving together both of our memories. Sometimes I can’t believe how we could accommodate the physical aspects of what we went through, aside from the combat and psychological crap. Thank you for filling in here. Every word you have written in this comment is gospel and I cannot thank you enough for writing it for us all…
Semper fi,
Jim
Your comment @ 3:05 pm
(1505)
Says it all…
Of course some things will be added…artistic effect
But still true..making it a story that is an absolute Thrill a minute to read
Looking forward to reading your other stories..
Heal well and Live Long
Thanks Tom. Healing away as best I can and working on the adventure of the story…which it was although it sure as hell
did not feel that way at the time…
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks for all the Arch Patton chapters you put up to feed my addiction while waiting on this one. Your writing style is second to none for taking one right into the thick of it.
Don’t press the heal too fast and end up going backwards. Voice of experience on that a few times.
Yes, the Bering Sea mission. I am also bringing up Closer to God, the Africa mission very soon. Another kind of wild one I was on.
Strange life but at least it’s made for the ability to provide some pretty strange entertainment to you guys.
Semper fi, and thanks,
Jim
Have not commented in a while, but still here still enjoying the writing. thanks you Sir
Thanks Don, I much appreciate comments like this. Keeps me going my friend…
Semper fi,
Jim
Well let’s see now, the VC know where Kilo and C company are and they know they are sandwiched in between both marine companies. No doubt your company surprised them by moving in the rain and in the dark. They now can be assured that you have recovered all of your equipment and can find safety from within the berm along the cliff. They also know that if the rain continues come morning, the Sandy’s will be limited if not eliminated for support fire. All of those facts, will require some recalculating by their leaders before morning.
If there are as many VC as was reported by the Sandy’s, they can split up and attack both companies of marines, thereby keeping them from reinforcing one another. They also know the exact spot your company chooses to cross the river and have the coordinates down pat for that area. Sounds like a Mexican stand off at this point.
Should the weather clear, it could be an entirely different story. They know that since the Lt arrived, C company has been very unpredictable, whereas Kilo has been very predictable. A good VC leader would choose to attack Kilo, while keeping your company pinned down at the river. Still there is the Ontos to deal with and that can be a game changer if it has enough ammunition left to create havoc on the field of battle.
Excellent field command of the situation J.
Never forget supply.
They were so many times rich in troops but not ammunition.
The next segment you should find very interesting, once again real life being
such a hard thing to predict even when you seem to have all the analytical avenues covered.
Semper fi, My friend,
Jim
Yes and it makes for an even more interesting story as well. It seems like we spent most of that war, trying to cut off the enemy supply lines into the South. While our pilots supported our ground troops who were outnumbered most of the time, their primary mission was to cut off those supply routes.
That was a nearly impossible tasks, because of all of the tunnel systems within the country. We knocked out a lot of bridges and major highways, but could never overcome the tunnel networks. Many strategic planners believed that there were more VC living below ground, then above ground. Most of the VC staging areas were below ground.
One took that into consideration, when you spoke about the cave and tunnel systems that the VC were effectively using against our troops in the Valley of Death. Even with all of the bombing that took place by the Sandy’s during the last few chapters of your story, they still reported large numbers of VC, which meant there was a major tunnel system in the area. Could it be that our pilots cut off a major ammunition supply transfer to Charlie?
Tunnels. You will see about tunnels as we move into the last twelve days of the books. The Vietnamese were master builds and diggers and they did so against the French but I think it went much further back, because much of their country up from the lowlands had shallow water tables and they could go down under and be dry. The sandy, gravelly and many times loamy soil down deep was perfect for their big complexes…and they were so good at digging them. They myth of the tunnel rats persists today, like Rambo. There were Marines who actually went down into those tunnels but very very few and even fewer came back. Marines were simply not that dumb. American’s are big. Tunnels were small. And one way until you get someplace you can turn around, and dark and then there’s the enemy that can simply shoot one round down the tunnel and the ‘rat’s’ body is penetrated from one end to the other. Who’s supposed to get him out, even if he’s alive. We had no tunnel rats. I don’t know if anybody really did. I do not want to run down guys who might have really done something like that…so it’s an area of conjecture with me. I’d have never let anybody go down there and neither would the Gunny or even Jurgens or Sugar Daddy, but I don’t know. It made no rational sense then and it makes none now but then neither does some of what I’m writing.
Semper fi,
Jim
One suspects that in this new age of warfare, that robots will be used for the purpose of tunnel rats when it becomes necessary.
We used explosives whenever we had them. Concrete piercing arty also worked for the ones not too deep down.
We are not likely to see another war like that underground thing. The conditions had to be just right to allow
it to work for them.
Semper fi,
Jim
Re: Your reply to Mark at 3:05 pm 9/18.
Damn well said, sir!
Wish you a speedy recovery from the eye surgery.
Another riveting chapter; I too feel exhausted from the run!
Keep up the good work, but don’t tax yourself.
Thanks for the compliment and the sympathy. Much appreciated.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim, one of my best friends was an Army tunnel rat. He wasn’t much bigger than a gook,none of them were, but they had balls the size of China. He came back just before I went over.
Thanks for the comment. I never knew any of those guys but have heard the stories about their exploits.
Thanks for coming in on that.
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks Jim, another fine installment. Found three items.
ed from our bodies or sparingly collected in our helmets, then we would be much closer to being prey when dawn came (that) if we successfully made the move. (than)
And they never came out of their holes when there was lightening. I didn’t know whether that was because of fear or superstition. . (lightning)
producing only a minimum glow of light, as the explosive mixture burned tiny but hot. I was out of the water (omit the)
Again appreciate the sharp eye!
So noted and corrected.
Semper fi,
Jim
Hey, thank you again for a good piece of writing about life as a marine in Vietnam.
You are most welcome Tim. I am on to the next segment as I write this to you…
Semper fi,
Jim
Take your time and heal well.. no one is leaving……
Oh hell, of course they will leave. That’s what happens in this world we created.
The tribe doesn’t leave and that’s why it’s important to have and build one.
There’s a tribe of sorts building here and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that
but that tribe needs contact and care…
and I hope to continue to provide that…
This isn’t mine. I just started it and I did that unknowingly…
Semper fi,
Jim
Hey Jim,
Thanks for the latest chapter.
As for one of your responses, the one you refer to as a rant, No apology is needed, in my opinion, for your rants. You ar speaking from your heart with an honesty that comes from being in a place where you realize no one can reach into to hurt you. Your inner citadel, So to speak.
Would like to know if it is the 16 years of war after 9/11 is what you compare to Vietnam as the only thing screwed up as much. Or is it something else.
9/11 was screwed up when the leaders of our country decided to take advantage
of it for themselves instead of for thinking and acting about how it could have been used
as the single best world rallying attack of all time.
Vietnam could have been our steadfast and central kingpin set right in the very heart of Asia.
But the leaders of that time and the leaders of this time decided to take what they could
for their very own and here we are. 700 billion dollar defense budget against who?
A nearly non-existant asian country with no electricity and a bunch of poor Arabs living in desert poverty.
How did we get here? Bad leadership. Really bad leadership.
Semper fi,
Jim
Wow! … Well-said. …
Your unorthodox, refreshing take makes more sense than the tweedledum/tweedledee appraisals out there.
And thank you so much for this book.
And — for this chapter — an unexpected surprise due to the eye issues. …
Man, you still be tough.
Thanks Rick. Unfortunately, the eye ooperation failed and I have to do it all over again next Tuesday.
But I will continue to do my Mr. MaGoo thing in keeping on writing…
Semper fi,
Jim
🔟4️⃣
Thanks, Richard…
Jim
Without first reading others commentary, I am very happyDiDi Mau worked. I am beginning to think, but for you, many more Marines, yours and Kilos would be gone. I am seeing the numbers also, when will 17 be a very distant mass of details almost not remembered, when we experience you and yours in the shit still in many days to come? A master at telling the story, not the one in the history books drawn from after action reports, but the one of life and every man doing his best to hang on to his. Thank you for sharing. Poppa
Here’s a comment I cut and pasted from Facebook, Poppa.
I would never have thought of the comparison but it seemed so right on and with what your saying too….
Carrol Killian on Facebook wrote this critique of both my book and the work Ken Burns just put out….
and I was so struck by it that I wanted to write it up high on the site here before I lose it in the complexity of all my other thinking and work.
I was rolling around in my own mind about trying to compare what I am doing and what he is doing. Carrol got it. Spot on. All the way…up the hill.
Here is what Carroll had to say:
Semper fi,
Jim
Sometimes defining a story’s effect, or is it affect, I can never remember, on a mind is as simple yet profound as Carroll’s cut to the chase comment. Thank you Carroll. I had a friend call me five mins before the first episode encouraging me to watch and or record. Carroll has spurred me to offer my copy of “The First Fifteen Days” to Norm for a more true telling for someone who did not serve through no fault of his own. Thanks Jim, now I have a line to quote when I am selling your book. P. J.
Carroll’s line was stunning to me when I read it. Complimentary but not totally.
By being in the driver’s seat one cannot see the race, except for small little parts of it.
How so very true for the experience of my time in country. My friend in Lake Geneva is one of
the world’s premier historians on the Vietnam War. He did not go but here he is…the expert.
Not me. And that’s probably correct. He did not want me to come and talk at one of his lectures
back east because he felt that my views were too narrow and not objective because of what had happened
to me. Interesting…
Semper fi,
Jim
Right on the money!
Thanks Gerry. Much appreciate the support, especially on here…
Semper fi,
Jim
God bless you and help you and all your fellow brothers find real peace. I can not imagine the fear of running in soupy mud in total pitch dark rainy conditions know your enemy was nearby. So glad you made it. Also glad to hear your surgery was a success. Thank you for telling this story. My class reunion (50th) showed 26 men served in Vietnam from 1967-70.
Man, that’s a lot of guys serving from your class. Where did you go to school?
Thanks for the kind words and the motivation.
Yes, the movements at night were ferociously difficult and all movements under
threat of annihilating fire were so difficult and demanding.
Only our young ages saved us….and then there was the Gunny!
Semper fi,
Jim
Another fine installment very good read, as always; best hopes for your health sounds that all is well on the mend ,please stay well my friend!
Thank you Bill and the compliment is pretty nice to read. The eye is on the mend, the doctor says, although
it’s not being that friendly to me just yet. This age with surgery shit is shit…
Semper fi,
Jim
Forgot to add, hope the eye surgery and rehab are going well!
Yes, I am okay and thank you for that. Just hard to see the damned screen or drive…
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim
Another great chapter, been wondering where you had gone. As usual reading intensively until the last word!
Thanks Ron, means a lot right now…
Semper fi,
Jim
The minutiae of stories chews on me. That lightning thing…did you ever figure that out? I’ve not before heard or read of that…but it sounds like good sense, if worrying about death by lightning in a killing field makes any sense. Good stuff, Mister Strauss.
Turns out they weren’t worried about dying from the lightening. They were worried that
it was a bad sign, a sign for them to become immobile and wait until it was gone.
That is as close as I’ve been able to get because the studies anthropologically on this
are pretty limited. I happened to have a Vietnamese neighbor after the war who told me a lot.
But it is anecdotal…
Semper fi,
Jim
The VC were night fighters and any kind of light that betrays their movement in the dark, was bad karma. They were and are, very superstitious people. They hated having to deal with our flare kickers along with Puff’s activities.
You are most correct J. They hated the White Phosphorus and illumination when we could get it. Puff terrified them as did the strange way that 106 recoilless rifle round swooshed in and blew up with strange flare-like explosions. War is drama. War is beliefs in conflict and beliefs are seldom based upon solid facts.
Thanks for that depth, as usual…
Semper fi,
Jim
Hey glad your surgery went as well as possible and it’s good to be reading these again.
Like most that served and especially those grunts in the field, the rain is something one never forgets.
The monsoons where like having someone pour buckets of water over your head one minute, then less the next, then back to the bucket then constant until you the it ran like small streams thru the mud and if you were dug in, you could feel the small dig or fox hole starting to fill up.
If you were on an ambush it was very scary, you could not see or hear movement so weapon on the ready, safety off and nerves on edge, heaven help anything/anyone that moved into the killing zone.. memories that never leave you.
Thanks and keep it up we look forward to the next one.
Ron W Frye SGT ’67/’68 Vietnam US ARMY, Blood type “OD” religion infantry.
Yes, Ron, and it was when the wrong person moved in that killing zone that parts of us were torn off and left behind.
Killing the enemy did not phase me. The rest of it sure as hell did, and does.
It’s hard to explain the variability of the monsoons because the films and T.V. portray it as an endless steady
and heavy rain, which for the most part it is not, or was not.
It varied all over the place, once again screwing up the best laid plans…even mine!
Semper fi, and thinks for the surgery comment.
Jim
Withdrawals from waiting for this chapter were starting to get the best of me. As always it was well worth the wait. Hope you recover quickly from your surgery. Thank you for another intense read.
Old one eye is on Segment 18th Day and trying to finish the second book while I recover.
Thanks for the great compliment and the sympathy on the eye thing. Why did I not know it was
going to be this shitty? Jezz!
Semper fi,
Jim
Glad to have you back. I hope the eyes are well.
Ed. Note about 15th paragraph. Closer to being prey (than) for that.
Thanks for the editing help and the best wishes…
Semper fi,
Jim
Great chapter Jim. Think book two is mid October now? Just curious. Incredible writing. Thank you.
“I was out of ‘the’ water, so I didn’t go for my canteen holder”
Fusner calls the company and tell then(tells them) we’re starting out……
Kimball
Thanks for the editing help and great compliment…
Semper fi,
Jim
Damn..I ran out of popcorn through the intermission! Now it’s “Hold my Beer and watch this”. Welcome back Jim. What a ride!
Thanks Jack, the popcorn comment was appreciated with a smile…
Semper fi,
Jim
So, how much did you write with one eye tied behind your back? The level of tension didn’t suffer a bit. I keep thinking how hard this has to be for you and one up with keep on keepin on. You do that and I’ll do this. Thanks for all of it.
Proofing my own failed. It should be “and COME up with”.
Yes, kinda caught that…
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks Walt, the eye is coming along comfort wise but still not able to see out of the damned thing.
Doing my best…
Thanks for the encouragement.
Semper fi,
Jim
James,
my son is a life-long solider and military history buff, I have been telling him about your great story. But, he always asks the same question; is this a true account of those 30 days or a good story based on some facts? He teaches OCS and maybe would use some it for training.
Thanks
What do you want me to say Mike. You must make up your own mind on the details.
Maybe I should have used an assumed name or something like that.
You write this stuff out into the ether and you have to live with it for the rest of your life.
It’s hard enough to live with the stuff inside much less having a public
that might not be in agreement or believing.
The devil is in the details.
If the details are accurate enough and take you there then it becomes ever harder not to
believe the story based upon those details…
Semper fi,
Jim
Damn best answer to the best question I never thought to ask. Well done Sir. Poppa
I hope you were not offended by my guestions as I ment no disrespect. I think you have awsome story and look eagerly for each new installment.
I certainly respect your service and sacrifice for our country. Many of my family were in Nam, to include my Father who did two tours. I was rejected due to a serious knee injury in high school. But as a life long Army brat I understand the military and respect all who serve and have served. Again please accept my apology if I offended
Mike, I have the utmost respect for guys and gals who come on here and comment at all. This is a tough audience of roadies and road warriors.
It is not to be expected that everyone here would believe or go along with some or all of this. I put up everything and trash nothing on here.
If Chuck gets mad at someone that’s different. I give him the ability to block but that’s not happened except for one guy who was so racist it
just was awful. Thanks for commenting and thanks for the compliment too.
Semper fi,
Jim
Sitting here at home recovering from open heart surgery has made waiting for this chapter seem forever. Well worth the wait. Thank you LT.
Ed.note: Middle of the chapter.
I knew that whatever I said after that would be quickly transmitted to every Marine in the detail within seconds, although I didn’t know (how??) that was done.
Thank you Bob,
So noted and corrected.
Heal quickly my friend.
Semper fi,
Jim
Another outstanding segment Jim…I was panting with you while you ran…and Jurgens, what a dick, I don’t know how you didn’t get rid of him…he seems more of a liability than and asset… and it looks like di di mau worked as planned…I anxiously await the morning action…
Thanks for the analysis and the compliment buried in your words. Nice to read, now that I can read again!
Writing in ten minute sessions so I can keep going…
Semper fi,
Jim
I read the comment about the lifetime soldier and questioning the believability…
most of us know why you had to call it a novel…
just like anyone that saw the PBS special last night, that lived in that era, knows it was edited…
I guess it is hard for a young soldier to believe that things happened the way they did since nothing has ever happened like that since…
people will believe and dis-believe as they will…
just like many will believe that the PBS special is exactly how it was…
you just keep telling your story and all the vets on here will continue to know what we know, whether we tell it or not…
forge ahead…and I hope the eye comes along well…
I knew that the story was going to create credibility issues.
We live in a very narrow culture when it comes to having any real idea of what goes on in the rest of the world.
There are 195 countries out there and by strange happenstance I have been in 122 of them.
What I brought home from those travels and adventures I write about in my spy thrillers
and they are not more believable than Thirty Days…
or UFO stuff when it comes to the American culture.
This is not an accident.
The one thing I did like about Burn’s presentation is that he had the guts to let
the American public watching that Ho Chi Minh, when he first took over Vietnam
following the war gave his first speech…
and it was the American Declaration of Independence.
The only thing America has screwed up more than what we had there was following 911.
So, I am out here, prepared to take the shots.
There are also so many American men who want the story of Rambo to be true, and they identify themselves with that character.
My work is about finding honor within oneself.
It’s about being a coward in order to rise up and stand with courage.
It’s about re-attaining salvation in life by working for redemption instead of trying to forget.
It’s about making mistakes so God will build more strength into you and knowledge of what a mistake really is.
A culture that has been run so long by people with little or no life experience will always resemble
the one we are experiencing right now.
Supreme Court justices that were never anything but silver spoon ivy leaguers who served as law clerks.
Politicians raised up by hard ass fathers who then turned over the fortune built on
little more than slavery and brutality. The only man I ever worked for who understood,
when he was V.P. was George Bush Sr., and with damn good reason.
Sorry about the rant.
Semper fi,
Jim
Thank you Mark for bringing up the story about Vietnam as the author of it sees it. But thank you James for the “rant”. There is more in that answer than philosophers wil be able to analyze for eons. Yes you are finding who you are in this gut wrenching task you have placed before yourself. I wasn’t there, but I haven’t seen the “action and it’s credibility”, I am seeing a man not afraid to tell the world he is looking for telling of the truth and peace with who he is in the eyes of an awesome God. And LT if I am way off in no where ville please rap the back of my hand with the butt of the Colt. Poppa
Poppa J. What can I say to that? A big compliment, indeed, the whole thing.
Your writing on here is so much appreciated by so many, and certainly me…
Semper fi,
Jim
I don’t consider it rant….like Joe Friday used to say on DRAGNET…”just the facts, please”….forge on….
You are a true gentleman Mark!
Thank you!
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks James and Mark. Your posts give me reflection and some validation of my own thoughts. I too watched the Burns presentation on PBS and had mixed emotion. I’ll watch the rest of it. Now have a myriad of thoughts flying between the ears.
James, the book keeps me coming back for more. Thank you. The dynamic with the NCO’s and your position is a blender on pulse. All are just trying to get out of an untenable situation. Sometimes I feel that Gunny, Sugar Daddy and Jurgens are in their own way developing a LT and looking for a leader but the survival mode could kick in any deadly minute. They are pretty damn skeptical after going through no telling how many officers and becoming feral. All in all I think you did a damn good job of LT OJT and some of it was the luck of the draw. Semper Fi.
I think a whole lot of it was simply the luck of the draw. Oh, I know some guys were favored because they had
friends there when they arrived that kept them out of the bush. If they were real friends that is what one might
expect and understand. Adapting to the circumstance and dropping formality and much of the training as fast as possible
was also required…or getting dead would quickly result. As the Gunny once said in humor (I’m sure), the most physically
effective way of coming to understand a booby trap was by stepping on one. Understand being synonymous with death of course.
Semper fi,
Jim
No problem, now get on with healing and enjoy the breathers eye rest time, it will improve both your eye and your thinking time.
Nice to have you on flank security Poppa…
Semper fi,
Jim
Another great chapter, James. Thanks. I’m still trying to recover my breath from running with you.
Here’s hoping your eye surgery went well and you fully recover with no complications.
Thanks for that great compliment and the well wishing.
The surgery supposedly went very well although I can’t see worth a damn
to drive or spend much time at the computer. Have to take it in ten minute sessions and then get away.
Soon, I’ll be back, they say.
Semper fi,
Jim
Another fine installment. While you’re sitting in a comfortable chair reading it, can almost feel the jungle and the building tension. The stress of being in the jungle under those conditions must have been awful. It becomes easy to understand why those who were there are still scarred by it.
One potential typo for you to look at: in the 20th Paragraph, beginning “If we hunkered down…”, did you mean to use “laying”, or should it be “lying”?
Thanks Ben for the compliment and for the help in editing. I don’t know what I’d do without you guys out here to provide that,
and the compliments, of course.
Semper fi,
Jim